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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Michael Hastings had drugs in his system at time of high-speed crash

The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office says journalist Michael
Hastings, who won fame writing the Rolling Stone article that ended General
Stanley McChrystal's career, had drugs including amphetamines and marijuana in
his system when he was killed in a fiery car crash in June.

However, coroner's investigators said the drugs likely did
not contribute to the crash, which they classified as an accident.Toxicology results showed small amounts of
amphetamine in Hastings' blood, which indicated he had possibly taken
methamphetamine many hours before his death. Traces of marijuana were also
present, indicating he'd taken it hours earlier.

Hasting’s cause of death was massive blunt force trauma, and
the coroner determined he likely lost consciousness upon impact and died within
seconds.

The autopsy report came two months after Hastings' death on
a deserted Los Angeles street fueled conspiracy theories and prompted the FBI
to release an unusual statement that it had not been investigating him.

Hastings died when his Mercedes, traveling at a high rate of
speed, crossed into the median on Highland Avenue in Hollywood and struck a
tree on June 18. The car burst into flames and Hastings' body was charred to
the point that it took several days to positively identify him.

The report states that Hastings had been "sober"
for 14 years, but his family believed he had started using drugs again in the
month before his death.

According to investigators, the crash occurred a day after
Hastings returned from New York, where his wife was living at the time, and
hours before a brother was due to join another family member in urging Hastings
to go to detox. Family members said Hastings had been using the hallucinogenic
DMT recently, though the drug was not detected in a blood test after the crash.

The names of family members who spoke to investigators were
redacted in the report.

The report said a family member had last seen Hastings
passed out at home about three hours before the crash. The person said Hastings
had been smoking marijuana the night before the crash.

Investigators said Hastings was found after the crash with a
medicinal marijuana identity card in his wallet, and that the drug apparently
was used to ease post-traumatic stress disorder after his assignments in
Afghanistan and Iraq.

The report also noted that Hastings had hit a pole while
driving several years ago and was possibly misusing Ritalin at the time. He was
later institutionalized for rehabilitative care.

A family member told investigators Hastings didn't have a
history of suicide attempts but believed he was invincible and could jump off a
balcony and be fine.

At the time of his death, Hastings was working as a
contributing editor for Rolling Stone and wrote about politics for Buzzfeed.